The Flying Yankee

If you want answers to your questions, all you need do is go to www.flyingyankee.com and ask. I would venture very few posters here are going to have the answers to the more technical questions, especially with regard to such a unique and ancient trainset. In fact Mr MX you sound quite knowledgeable. Why not volunteer some of your expertise directly with the group. Just an idea.

According to NEGS there is going to be a building constructed in Concord, NH which is where the Yankee will be stored. The state wants to construct a wye using the Northern line and the White Mountain line at the North end of the Concord Rail Yard. From what I have gathered it will only operate during the summer months and be stored in Concord for the winter. Peter and company from what they under stand, is that it will only be used on occasions during the summer months but will most likely never leave the 6 New England States.

I still think that they're over-stretching the big picture for this unit, and in doing so, they are watering down its historic value (no Winton) and pegging it for more mileage than it needs to go, which will enduce wear and tear faster. Limit it to a run no longer than its original one.

In response to the question asked by steveh, Yes I work in the industry and have for many decades. I have provided information to the FYRG group and to the C&C (during Phase One) on several occasions at their request in support of work on the equipment. The concept of "volunteering" time to the group would certainly be unique considering everyone involved with this project who has contacted me over the years was either a paid consultant, a railroad employee doing work on contract, or a paid vendor, none of them were volunteers.

MX, this could be an opportunity for you to do work for the State of New Hampshire, for free!

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No one should be forced to work for free, but it seems like some of the questions regarding the Winton engine and the traction motor issue would be better answered by folks directly involved with Flying Yankee? All us "outsiders" can do is specualte.... and it sounds like there are some valid concerns out there. Why not email the group and let us know what they find out? Or email someone from the group and invite them to join this forum so we can learn more about the project?

-otto-

3rdrail wrote: Limit it to a run no longer than its original one.

Speaking of which, I was always amazed that it used to go from Portland to Boston, Boston to Bangor, Bangor to Boston, and Boston to Portland each day. That's a lot of miles - very impressive!

I went to the Flying Yankee Group's presentation a couple times in the last year, the first time intentionally and the others by it simply being the "entertainment" for the evening at a group when I dropped by. The questions about machinery, operational limitations, and maintenance do in fact get asked at these sessions. Having watched and compared several times now, two answers in particular are very frequent, in response to many of the questions:

(1.) The train will be able to operate everywhere.

(2.) The people at the railroad are going to take care of that.

The first response led to lots of discussion among the audience after the event, because it obviously has some serious problems. The train is single ended, has no rear control station, and (as of last year at least) had no couplers to work with other equipment. It was mentioned that they are trying to find suitable retractable couplers. The train really needs a line with wyes at both ends to operate on. There also was mention of a 50MPH speed limit on the equipment, that's a lot slower than commuter rail and Amtrak operate on many lines. The questions about being able to perform routine maintenance at host facilities brought up here were also asked in various forms with no solid answers.

I noticed the second response was used several times and although it is "understandable" a direct answer to the questions would have been much more impressive.

I think a lot of these questions end up on the internet simply because they are not getting suitable answers in the group's public presentations, and it is being noticed and discussed. Meanwhile some of the explanations that are presented by the group in those sessions are not helping to build confidence in the project.

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What is going on here is the same set of problems that effected the stream groups, i.e.

The for profit freight RxRs don't want a train on their RxR if there is any chance that it will break down or otherwise cost them money.

The result may be that it can only run on it's home RxR or just be a static display. While sad, business is business.

Take the Steamtown example ... they have trouble with the RxR they run on every time they have a problem (train de-railed a year or two ago because of poor quality rail). The current mngt now states their mission isn't to run railfan trips, so they are running less trips Meanwhile the trolley group there has been expanding & expanding (they also run on soomeone else's RxR tracks).

Here on LI the engine 39 group thinks they'll be able to run on LIRR tracks once they get her running again. Once they ask the mngt for permission I'll be they reply with an impossible list of demands & restrictions

Has anyone contacted the FY group for some answers to the hard questions?

-otto-

For those who live in Maine or can get NBC out of Portland or Bangor, a segment on Bill Green's Maine at 7:00pm tonight Saturday will be on the Flying Yankee.

The February 28, 2007 news update on the Flying Yankee website advises that they have had great difficulty obtaining any information on the original GE traction motors, even from GE, and they are requesting any documents that anyone can provide that would give them information about the motors.

This is under "Friends of the Flying Yankee February 2007 Newsletter", third and fourth paragraphs.

http://www.flyingyankee.com/press.html#1

Truck frames are on there way to NH Central Railroad to under go restoration that will take about five months.
Total restoration project of the Yankee should be finished by 2009. The first tentative schedule has been made public as to where the Yankee will run. It will spend most of its time during the summer running from Lincoln to Ashland where a Wye will need to be constructed. Land will need to be obtained to for the construction of the Wye. During the winter it will spend its time in Concord where it will be on display at a proposed building/museum site. Long range plans is to have the Yankee go all over the place visiting places like N. Conway, Boston and Portland but with the many different rail owners out there; it sure is going to be a difficult task.

NOTE: This is information that I have gathered from other sources through word of mouth and is based off of private conversations. Other than the truck frames the rest is just hear say.